An incident was reported at the Morris Complex for LyondellBasell's Equistar business

May 31/2011

(Chicago Tribune) -- About 100
residents near a petrochemical facility in southwest suburban Morris were
evacuated this afternoon after a power outage stoked fears that a tanker might
explode, officials said. The Grundy County Emergency Operations Center issued an
emergency message that said "an incident" had been reported at the Morris
Complex for LyondellBasell's Equistar business, and initially evacuated all
residents within a 1.8-mile radius of the plant to the Minooka fire station at
7901 E. Minooka Rd. The message indicated that the evacuation was being
undertaken as a “precautionary measure.”

Lightning reportedly hit one of the stacks at the facility and caused
pressure in a vessel to surge, according to Minooka Village President Patrick
Brennan.

Deeann Thigpen, a spokeswoman for the company, said that severe storms
Sunday had knocked out power and steam to the plant and that the company was in
the process of getting the plant powered up again. She said that the plant
itself had not been evacuated.